Thief

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER combination delivers a robust Thief experience, but the data reveals a clear hierarchy: this pairing is heavily GPU-bound at 1080p, with the CPU becoming a more significant factor as resolution drops. The combo ranks 479th out of 1642 tested configurations, placing it in the upper 29% of all pairings for this title.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data shows a predictable and steep decline as resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, but the magnitude of that drop varies significantly by settings preset. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 120.9 FPS at 1080p to 110.4 FPS at 1440p, then plunges to 70.6 FPS at 4K. That represents a 41.6% reduction from 1080p to 4K, indicating that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's pixel throughput becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions.

The scaling pattern shifts dramatically when examining Low settings. At 1080p Low, the system produces 149.8 FPS, which drops to 133.6 FPS at 1440p and 112.8 FPS at 4K. The 4K figure is still 75.3% of the 1080p result, suggesting that even at 4K, the GPU retains substantial headroom. This is classic behavior for a game where the CPU begins to bottleneck at lower resolutions and settings, preventing the GPU from reaching its full potential.

At Ultra settings, the resolution scaling is nearly identical to High: 120.3 FPS at 1080p, 107.1 FPS at 1440p, and 69.9 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result is only 58.1% of the 1080p Ultra figure, confirming that the GPU is the primary constraint when visual fidelity is maxed out. The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this combo, where the frame rate remains above 107 FPS across all settings while still leveraging the GPU's capabilities.

FAQ

Q: How does this combo perform at 4K Ultra settings?

A: The system achieves 69.9 FPS at 3840x2160 with Ultra settings. This is playable for most users, though it sits below the 70 FPS threshold that many consider ideal for smooth gameplay.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the bottleneck in Thief?

A: The data indicates the GPU is the primary limiter at 4K, where High and Ultra settings both produce around 70 FPS. At 1080p, the CPU becomes more relevant, as evidenced by the smaller performance gap between Low (149.8 FPS) and Ultra (120.3 FPS) settings.

Q: What is the best resolution for competitive play?

A: For maximum frame rates, 1920x1080 with Low settings delivers 149.8 FPS. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches the 150 FPS mark, making it the clear choice for high-refresh-rate displays.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GPU's average benchmark score is 48704, placing it 0.7% behind the NVIDIA CMP 50HX (49071) and 1.6% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (47915). It also outperforms the Intel Arc A550M by 2.1% (49737 vs 48704).

Q: Does the Ryzen 5 5500 hold back the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER?

A: At 1080p Low, the system produces 149.8 FPS, which is likely nearing the CPU's practical limit for this game. The CPU's single-thread score of 836 in 3DMark and 2319 in Cinebench R23 suggests it can sustain high frame rates, but the 1080p results show diminishing returns compared to 1440p.

Q: Which settings preset offers the best balance of quality and performance?

A: The High preset at 2560x1440 delivers 110.4 FPS, which is only 8% lower than the 1080p High result (120.9 FPS) while providing significantly better image quality. This represents the most efficient trade-off in the measured data.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the dominant component in this pairing, as evidenced by the measured frame rates. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Thief's textures and geometry at 4K resolution. The GPU's boost clock of 2610 MHz and base clock of 2340 MHz allow it to maintain high utilization across all tested settings.

The GPU's benchmark profile reinforces its position in the hierarchy. Its PassMark G3D score of 31811 and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5569 demonstrate strong raw performance. The GPU ranks in the 86th percentile against all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 48704. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA CMP 50HX (49071, 0.7% higher) and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (47915, 1.6% lower), showing that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER sits in a competitive mid-to-high tier.

The 4K results highlight the GPU's capability limits. At Ultra settings, the system produces 69.9 FPS, which is only marginally lower than the High preset's 70.6 FPS. This narrow gap suggests that Thief's Ultra preset does not add significant GPU load over High at 4K, but the absolute frame rate remains constrained by the GPU's pixel and texture processing rates of 250.6 GPixel/s and 689.0 GTexel/s, respectively.

How This Combo Ranks

Out of 1642 tested combinations, this pairing of the Ryzen 5 5500 and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER achieves rank 479. This places the combo in the top 29.2% of all configurations tested for Thief. The ranking reflects a balanced system where the GPU provides ample headroom for the CPU to operate without becoming a severe bottleneck at typical gaming resolutions.

The CPU's own ranking context helps explain this result. The Ryzen 5 5500 falls in the 79th percentile against all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 20875. Its nearest rivals include the Intel Core i5-12500 (20897, 0.1% higher) and the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4655GE (20900, 0.1% higher), indicating that the processor is competitive with mid-range options from the same era.

The combination's rank of 479 suggests that while the GPU is powerful, the CPU prevents this from being a top-100 configuration. For a game like Thief, which was released in 2014 and is not particularly demanding by modern standards, the CPU's six cores and twelve threads at up to 4.20 GHz boost are adequate, but the 1080p results show that the system cannot fully saturate the GPU's potential in less demanding scenes.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides six cores and twelve threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, running at a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. This processor, built on TSMC's 7 nm process with 10,700 million transistors, offers a 16 MB L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s of bandwidth.

In Thief, the CPU's role becomes apparent when examining the 1080p results. At Low settings, the system produces 149.8 FPS, but at Ultra settings, it drops to 120.3 FPS. This 19.7% reduction is primarily due to increased draw calls and physics calculations at higher settings, which tax the CPU's single-thread performance. The CPU's 3DMark single-thread score of 836 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2319 indicate moderate single-thread capability that can handle this game's engine.

The CPU's multi-threaded performance is more than sufficient for Thief, as evidenced by its Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 16429. However, the game's engine appears to favor single-thread performance, as the 4K results show only a 5.5% difference between Low (112.8 FPS) and Ultra (69.9 FPS) settings, indicating that the GPU is the limiting factor at that resolution. The CPU's 65W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface do not appear to constrain performance in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured data provides a comprehensive picture of performance across three resolutions and four settings presets. At 1920x1080, the system achieves 149.8 FPS at Low, 136.5 FPS at Medium, 120.9 FPS at High, and 120.3 FPS at Ultra. The gap between Low and Medium is 13.3 FPS, while the gap between Medium and High is 15.6 FPS, but High and Ultra are nearly identical with only a 0.6 FPS difference.

At 2560x1440, the frame rates are 133.6 FPS at Low, 118.9 FPS at Medium, 110.4 FPS at High, and 107.1 FPS at Ultra. The scaling from 1080p to 1440p results in a 10.8% reduction at Low, 12.9% at Medium, 8.7% at High, and 11.0% at Ultra. This consistency suggests that the GPU is handling the increased pixel count efficiently, with the CPU maintaining adequate frame delivery.

At 3840x2160, the results show a more pronounced drop: 112.8 FPS at Low, 92 FPS at Medium, 70.6 FPS at High, and 69.9 FPS at Ultra. The transition from Low to Medium at 4K represents a 18.4% reduction, while Medium to High drops another 23.3%. The High to Ultra transition is negligible at 0.7 FPS, indicating that Ultra settings at 4K do not meaningfully increase GPU load over High.

Settings Recommendations

The optimal settings for this combo depend on the target resolution and performance goal. For 1080p users with high refresh rate displays, the Low preset delivers 149.8 FPS, which is the only configuration exceeding 145 FPS in the measured data. Medium at 1080p still provides 136.5 FPS, offering a reasonable balance for those who want better visuals without sacrificing too much frame rate.

For 1440p, the High preset at 110.4 FPS is the recommended choice. It delivers 3.3 FPS more than Ultra (107.1 FPS) while providing nearly identical visual quality in most scenes. The Medium preset at 118.9 FPS is a viable alternative for users who prioritize frame rate over minor visual enhancements.

At 4K, the High preset at 70.6 FPS is the best experience, as it is only 0.7 FPS slower than Ultra (69.9 FPS) but may offer slightly better stability. The Medium preset at 92 FPS is the clear winner for 4K users who want to maintain higher frame rates, providing a 30.3% improvement over High while still delivering good image quality. The Low preset at 112.8 FPS is recommended only for users who require maximum frame rates at 4K, as the visual compromise is substantial.